


i. calling cards

by bogliasco



Series: if the mcu wasn't a coward we would've had this [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 23:33:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15762006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bogliasco/pseuds/bogliasco
Summary: The first one is a joke. The second one is a challenge.





	1. first impressions

Tony stared at the street in horror and wondered how this was his life.

 

Vision had just sent an energy beam through one of the blobs, cutting it in half with a truly disgusting noise and smell. Instead of dying, as most things did when encountered with the power of a literal  _ Infinity Stone _ , the blob had fallen to the ground with a slurping noise and moved as two parts. A beautiful vintage Chevy was consumed by the left half.

 

“That did not proceed as planned,” Vision noted. He floated completely still, even cape unmoved by the wind and general mayhem. Whatever lifelike mannerisms he had gained over the past year had disappeared after  ~~ Wanda left  ~~ the airport fight. For all of Tony’s lingering bitterness over Vision’s actions in Germany, he still felt a twinge of sympathy. There were some days when Tony felt like an automaton too, and keeping himself controlled physically was all that could hold back the maelstrom of emotions. Those days usually involved simulating the burning of Steve’s letter.

 

“Great observation, buddy. Maybe you can observe a way to get rid of these things before they end up melting that lovely brownstone?”

 

“Sir, Spiderman has just arrived at the scene.” FRIDAY sounded happy, the traitor. Tony swore colorfully, before diving down to the building where Peter perched. 

 

“Hi Mr.Stark!” Peter said cheerfully, considerately webbing and yanking cars out of the way of fleeing civilians. “These things are so gross, I couldn’t believe-”

 

“That’s enough out of you,” Tony said. “FRIDAY tells me it’s Tuesday morning, eleven A.M., which means a certain neighborhood Spiderman should be in school right now, yes?” He connected Peter to the comms system before sending a few missiles, just to test. The blobs just, well- for lack of a better word, ate them. When the missiles went off inside the things, they swelled and let out belching noises, before continuing on their haphazard bouncing journeys to cause property damage Tony would have to foot the bill for.

 

Peter pointed at the blobs. “School evacuation cuz of imminent danger, Mr.Stark. I’m just here to help out so I can go back to class as soon as possible.” The suit didn’t have a mouth but the aura of a shit-eating grin still managed to emanate through it.

 

Before Tony could reply, FRIDAY’s sensors went berserk. Beneath the blobs that Vision was herding with some expensive, sidewalk-exploding blasts, portals were opening up. The landscape visible through the openings was a glittering purple flatland, covered in other blobs. In the span of thirty seconds, the blobs were had all fallen through, and the only evidence of their existence was the wake of devoured city landscape.

 

“FRIDAY, report, now. What data did we get on the portals?” Tony scanned the data flying across the HUD, barely noticing when Peter swung off towards a building across the disaster zone. Vision had settled to the ground and was using his formidable strength to right cars and resettle toppled streetlights.

 

“Data unquantified, energy readings similar to spikes noted on Mount Everest last year and from the Hong Kong incident. Similar wavelengths have been detected in both North America and Southern Asia but are damped somehow; exact origin unknown.” Tony was about to go through the next chart when he heard a yelp. His heart stopped, and he shot towards the noise without thinking.

 

There were two figures on a rooftop a block away, dressed in what looked like monk robes. Peter was swinging from building to building, trying to get closer, but everytime he approached a portal would appear and closer, cutting his webs. He seemed to be caught in a looping free fall.

 

“Who the FUCK are you?” Tony said through his external speakers, catching Peter and setting him on a solid rooftop before pointing his gauntlets at the two men. One looked vaguely familiar, in a supercilious way.

 

“The ones who just saved your asses,” the familiar-looking one said in a bored tone. He was inspecting the melted brick where the blobs had flowed into the building. “Wong, we need soul vials.” A portal suddenly appeared and the other one- Wong- reached through and came back with two spiky glass bottles.   
  
“That’s so cool,” Peter gasped. “It’d be cooler if they hadn’t dropped me for a few minutes but still! Magic!”

 

“There’s no such thing as magic,” Tony said loudly. “I won’t ask again: who are you?”

 

“Doctor Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts. Some would call me a sorcerer. Not at your service.” Strange took the vials and held them underneath the melted brick. After a few seconds, during which nothing seemed to enter the vial, he stoppered them closed and vanished them. Peter let out an appreciative sound which Tony absolutely did not resent.

 

“Got a lot of titles there, doc. Sure hope you can back it up with some paperwork, and maybe an explanation or two about the jello monsters you seemed so familiar with.” 

 

Strange looked up and rolled his eyes. “You can find my medical accreditation online, and as for the other title, empirical evidence is much better than bureaucratic proof, wouldn’t you agree?” Tony blinked and he was no longer in the air, but on the ground three streets away where Vision was blankly clearing rubble. Peter laughed joyfully next to him.

 

By the time Tony managed to get back to the rooftop, both monks were gone. FRIDAY was reading through scanned data, theorizing about the portals, but Tony was looking consideringly at the business card on the roof. There was no phone number, but a message in shifting, multicolored ink:

 

_ For when you need saving again, _

_ Doctor Stephen Strange _

_ I’ll find you. _

 

Things had just gotten interesting.


	2. are a work in progress

“It’ll be a few days, at the least,” Wong said. “Tracking is easy when it’s intradimensional- leave this one and it gets a bit harder. We’ll put the new recruits in Kathmandu to work.”

 

“Wouldn’t it be faster if I went through them?” Stephen asked.

 

“It’s grunt work,” Wong said dismissively. “Need to weed out the uncommitted ones now.”

 

Stephen nodded in agreement, before closing the communication portal and sitting back in his desk. It had been mere hours since they had disposed of the Rew, and he was still jittery. There were still unanswered questions- who sent them? how had the transporter discovered the Rew? how had they collected the energy necessary for interdimensional portals? The only reason Stephen and Wong had managed to open the return portals was the instability created by the original trip. It would have been easier to locate their dimension of origin with an actual Rew, but they were impossible to contain. The recruits would have to settle for the soul vials.

 

There were other concerns as well. Iron Man, Stark, whatever it was people called him. He was more of a minor nuisance than anything, but the encounter left Stephen strangely energized and apprehensive. Since his ascent to the Master position, he had been keeping tabs on the Avengers and awaiting the day they discovered his presence. Originally, he hadn’t been avoiding them outright. However, since the whole Accords business, Stephen had taken precautions and magically hidden the Sanctum. Magic was not meant for political or military uses- its scope was far larger, and petty requirements would only distract. His interaction with Stark had only cemented his dread. The man seemed more concerned with identity than ability, like a good Accords-espousing superhero would be.

 

Stephen went through the next few days as usual. He checked on the Eye and renewed its protective spells. He imbued some excess power into the gems on the Belt of Weila, adding to the massive ocean of energy he stockpiled for emergency casting. He portaled to Kathmandu and met with the new recruits, intimidating, encouraging, and ignoring as needed. He was in the middle of his astral projection to scour the Tilorian galaxy for potential watchlist members when the Sanctum’s alarm gonged. 

 

There was someone unknown at the door, which should’ve been impossible, given the web of illusionary protections he had cast. The Cloak fluttered around him as he shook out the last dregs of post-projection orientation, and then settled on his shoulders comfortingly. Stephen clenched his shaking hands and pushed away the nerves. It was likely just a null human, stumbled through by accident. The alternative- a magical being strong enough to push through his web without setting off the spells- was not a thought to entertain.

 

As he flew down the main stairs, a voice rang out through the door. “Ding dong, doc! I wanted to wait a bit longer for our second meeting, but I was just  _ dying  _ to see you.” Stephen froze, hovering a foot above the ground.  _ Tony Stark?!  _ He was just human- not magical, not null, not anything Stephen had sensed on the rooftop. How had he known the Sanctum existed, let alone managed to get to the front door?

 

Stephen waved the door open cautiously, spells ready. It wasn’t an imposter. He could sense Stark’s spiritual signature as the man flew in, all suited up. There was something wrong about it though- now, it was overlaid with magic, but nothing Stephen had ever encountered before (and that was nearly impossible). The helmet flipped up, and Tony grinned at him. “Miss me?”

 

“Not as much as you missed me, I see.” Stephen couldn’t focus entirely on the banter, still preoccupied with figuring out exactly what aura he was getting from Stark. The focal points of the power he was exuding were the miniature arc reactors embedded in various joints of the suit. They looked different than the ones from the rooftop encounter- these were wrapped in glowing wires.

 

“Like it?” Stark said smugly. “Got enough data from your little jaunt the other day to figure out that magic is just really advanced tech, and well, I am Tony Stark.”

 

“What do you want?” Stephen said through gritted teeth. Stark was an arrogant asshole, and if he went much further, he would learn there were some types of magic no amount of tech could combat.

 

Stark’s grin faded a bit. “Honestly, doc, not looking to start a fight here. Just needed to test the new suit, since I’m not really an expert on the whole performing-magic thing, just the preventing. What better test run than the Master of the Mystic Arts and his magic house, huh?” He looked around consideringly. “Is it working?”

 

“Could’ve called me to throw a few fireballs at your suit and test it that way,” Stephen grumbled. He put his arms down, grudgingly admitting that the strange feeling in his chest was admiration and not anger. “You did get through the layers of spells I put on the front door without forgetting your own name or finding yourself suddenly at the Sun’s core, so I guess it worked.”

 

Stark laughed nervously. “Very funny. What spells did you actually put there?” Stephen raised an eyebrow and Stark let out an audible gulp. “Okay, FRIDAY, note, next time we test out first gen magic repellent suits, maybe we don’t go straight for the front door.” 

 

“You couldn’t sense those spells?” Stephen said, now more curious than anything. “How exactly does your suit work then?”

 

Stark shrugged. “Couldn’t sense the spells Loki tried to cast during the Battle of New York either, but stopped them easily enough. Thought it was just a performance issue and didn’t think about it til you and your fellow monk showed up the other day. It seems I could scan your active magic.”

 

“Sorcerer,” Stephen corrected, watching the smile spread back over Stark’s face. “Now, are you done harassing me and risking your life by means of my front door?”

 

“See doc, that’s where I was wondering-” Stephen could feel a headache coming on- “I really only collected a few wavelengths from the portals, and I’m guessing there’s a lot more stuff you can do that I could study. Passive, delayed, failed, you know. In a very non-lab-rat way, of course. The intersection of science and tech!”

 

Although Stephen was wary about the offer- an Accords member trying to nullify magical effects sounded like a preemptive defense- he was intrigued. Stark was smiling but there was something dark and familiar in the desperation of his voice. There was something else at play here, and Stephen was not going to be out of the loop. He would keep his enemies(?) close.

 

“Make an appointment, Stark. Then we’ll see about the fireballs.” Stephen materialized another business card, this time with a communication spell that would send him whatever Stark wrote on it. He handed it to him without explanation and sent him on his way- the first test. Stark wasn’t stupid, but he definitely looked confused by the blank card. If Stephen got a message by the end of the day, he would help Stark. If not- well, pre-magic Stephen and post-magic Stephen had little in common, but they both didn’t suffer idiots lightly.

 

Things had just gotten interesting.


End file.
